Minor Leagues: Royals' rally dooms Johnson City

Thursday

Aug 29, 2013 at 12:01 AMAug 29, 2013 at 12:20 AM

Beckham drives Bulls to beat Gwinnett

Times-News

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — Alfredo Escalera drove in three runs across the final two innings and the Burlington Royals stunned the Johnson City Cardinals with a late comeback in Appalachian League baseball Wednesday night.

Burlington’s 5-3 victory destroyed Johnson City’s playoff aspirations with two games remaining in the regular season.

The Cardinals (35-30) were eliminated when the Kingsport Mets rallied to tie the Bluefield Blue Jays and then win in extra innings.

The Royals (28-37), who snapped a three-game losing streak and won for only the second time in their last nine games, scored three ninth-inning runs.

Escalera’s two-run double with one out in the ninth pushed the Royals into the lead off Johnson City reliever Zach Loraine. Another run scored on a wild pitch. Loraine (3-1) had given up a total of two runs across his last nine outings.

Nic Cuckovich led off the ninth with a double and Mike Mercurio singled before Cuckovich was out at the plate on Desmond Henry’s fielder’s choice grounder. Andrew Ayers’ single loaded the bases for Escalera.

An inning earlier, Escalera led off with his first home run of the season. He finished with three hits.

Johnson City, which won four of its previous five games, led 3-0 after four innings. The Cardinals dropped to fourth place in the West Division.

Cruz Guevara (3-1) was the winning pitcher with four shutout innings in relief.

International League

At Lawrenceville, Ga., Tim Beckham led off the game with a home run and finished with four hits and starting pitcher J.D. Martin added to his league-leading victory total as the Durham Bulls defeated the host Gwinnett Braves 5-1.

Martin (16-4) pitched 7 1/3 innings, giving up one run and seven hits. He struck out four without issuing a walk. A day earlier, he was named the International League Pitcher of the Year.

Josh Lueke notched his 17th save, striking out three.

Brandon Guyer tripled and doubled for the Bulls, who racked up 12 hits.

David Hale (6-8) took the loss. Jose Constanza had three of Gwinnett’s nine hits.

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